The Most Expensive Habit You Have

Hey Friends,

Let’s talk about expensive things. 

We are in academic medicine, so the first one is obvious – medical school, crazy expensive. Residency, i.e. spending your twenties making trainee money and leaving all of that potential 6-figure earning on the table – expensive. Board exams – My God, are you serious? Thousands of dollars over and over and over again. Expensive. 

Time is also expensive. It is our only non-renewable resource. And we sacrifice a good decade or more of our time to get these degrees, get trained, and start our careers.

So why is it worth it? Because these are transformative, permanent experiences. You get an MD or a PhD. Nobody can take that away from you, ever. You finish residency and choose again to train longer and subspecialize – because it is an expertise you will have forever.

And for those of us in academic medicine, we choose again – academics, not private practice. That dream career is such a draw that we are willing to leave double (or more…) potential salary on the table to pursue the academic mission. It’s worth it. Right? 

I don’t have the right set of mentors.
I am still working nights and weekends to get my work done.
I’m not sure that what I really want to do is actually possible here. 

Isolation. 
Institutional culture. 
Hard work with no strategy. 

Three hard realities with tangible consequences. Left unchecked, these will have you settling for less just to avoid burning out. Expensive. 

Not knowing how to lead yourself through your own career. Abdicating your decisions to what everyone else thinks. Expensive.

Sacrificing all of the investment in time, money, and energy you made to create this academic career opportunity, only to leave the very best of your potential on the table. Expensive. 

I coach early-career WOC faculty in academic medicine to own their academic value so they align their efforts with what they do best, to optimize their micro-environments so they are productive regardless of surrounding chaos, to learn grant-getting strategy so their effort are never wasted, and to build feasible, strategic roadmaps so they lead themselves to the successful and nourishing careers they deserve. 

My coaching program is not cheap – it’s not designed for cheap results. We invest in things that create durable, transformational change. Career-altering change. 

Not investing in yourself is a very expensive habit. Day in and day out, you leave your wellbeing, your joy, and your incredible potential to do work that changes the world – on the table.  

I invite you to shift. 

Enrollment into my signature coaching program – GET THAT GRANT^TM – is open. There are still a few spots left.  We kick-off in June 2020.  

Much love, 
Kemi